This invention pertains to farm tractors and to a device to allow easy connection and alignment of a tractor drawbar with the pulled implement and for automatic latching of the drawbar in pulling position after connection.
Current agricultural implements, and especially wagons when loaded, are very heavy and are virtually impossible to move without power. Engagement of that power--usually a farm tractor--with the wagon or other implement is usually effected by use of a simple hitch pin running through the drawbar of the tractor and a clevis type tongue on the wagon. Thus, fairly accurate alignment of the holes in the drawbar and in the clevis is necessary.
Many wagon tongues are extensible so that some longitudinal adjustment of the tongue is possible to obtain the necessary alignment. However, lateral movement is ordinarily obtainable only by swinging the tongue to the side, thereby turning the wheels of the wagon. When fully loaded, such movement is very difficult especially with the larger wagons.
Drawbars on many tractors can be swung from side to side to provide the necessary lateral movement, but a free swinging drawbar creates difficulty while pulling the wagon in that the pivot point between the tongue and the tractor then becomes a location under the tractor instead of to the rear of the tractor. The result is that in turning corners, the wagon may trail in a position to interfere with the rear wheels of the tractor. The solution to that problem is to lock the drawbar in a straight rearward position while pulling a wagon so that the pivot point is to the rear of the tractor.
My device allows both a swinging movement of the drawbar laterally and a locked position. The device is readily controllable so that the drawbar can be released to swing and then set so that the drawbar will be latched in pulling position at the first instance when the drawbar swings past that position.